I’ve been a fan of actor Michael Keaton since my early childhood and I don’t anticipate that will change anytime soon.
I mean, he’s still my favorite live action “Batman/Bruce Wayne” portrayal to date, his numerous niche roles include an animated snowman, and his iconic “Beetlejuice” role helped form a percentage of my own personal humor.
Keeping that in mind, it only seemed natural for me to catch his latest flick – “The Whisper Man” on Netflix last week.
Whisper Man allowed Keaton to shine as an unsettling and creepy in the best way!
Plus, the flick features heavy-hitter Robert De Niro opposite of Keaton in an intense battle of wits.
Those two alone are the only thing that kept my focus during the entire movie, so, by far, they are what I recommend most about it.
Whisper Man is an American crime thriller film directed by James Ashcroft and written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer.
It’s based on the novel of the same name by Alex North and stars De Niro, Keaton, Michelle Monaghan, Adam Scott, Hamish Linklater, and Acston Luca Porto.
The movie is 114 minutes long and rated R for some bloody violence, disturbing images, suicide, language and brief sexual references.
In 2026, Garretton Detective Amanda Beck (Monaghan) discovers the body of a boy with a shirt wrapped around his head while searching for another missing child, Neil Spencer.
The staging emulates serial killer Frank Carter (Keaton), also known as the ‘Whisper Man’ who murdered boys in the 1990s before being captured by Detective Peter Willis (De Niro).
Frank whispered to his victims and recorded messages designed to torment their grieving families.
Amanda seeks advice from the now-retired Peter, but he refuses to speak with Frank – and Frank will speak only to him.
Soon a recording of the Whisper Man speaking to Neil is discovered.
Recently widowed novelist Tom Kennedy (Scott) moves with his young son Jake (Porto) to Garretton, his wife’s hometown.
Jake has an imaginary friend, a young girl in a blue sweater, and avoids making friends at school since his mother’s death.
Tom tells him about his own beloved childhood imaginary friend, Mr. Night, who visited before he slept and kissed his forehead.
One night, Tom catches Jake reciting the Whisper Man rhyme at the front door as a gloved hand reaches through the letter box.
Then Tom pursues the hand owner off his property but is unable to identify the culprit.
The following day, he discovers a man in the basement, who flees.
That night, Tom gets drunk and loses his temper when Jake says his imaginary friend is afraid of “the boy in the floor”, and tells him to grow up.
Jake is abducted that night and a desperate Tom contacts Peter - his estranged father - and asks him to help find Jake.
Peter joins Amanda’s investigation, while Tom learns that the house’s previous tenant Dominic Barnett was Frank’s accomplice.
After Neil’s body is found, Peter finally agrees to meet with Frank.
Frank denies involvement and taunts Peter that Tom’s detective novels are an attempt to emulate Peter after their troubled relationship.
While reviewing frequent prison visitors, Peter identifies Norman Collins (Linklater), who collects serial-killer memorabilia, but has alibis for the abductions.
From that point onward, everyone becomes more desperate to find Jake before he is killed and both Tom and Peter work on their own fractured father-son relationship.
Overall, it’s a movie full of family drama and unstable murderers, but it has a happy ending, so, why not give it a whirl?
